1. Field of the Invention
The invention is related to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to wireless communication networks that lock mobile switching systems to prevent software modifications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The demand for wireless communication services, such as telephony and Internet access, is rapidly growing. The growing demand has caused wireless communication networks to deploy numerous mobile switching systems that provide wireless communication services. A mobile switching system is controlled by internal software that is frequently modified by external systems.
The software modifications may delete or edit the existing software or add new software. The software modifications may be initiated manually by a human operator or be initiated automatically by a computer system or process. The software modifications are often performed by the supplier of the mobile switching system (which is typically owned by a communication network). As the demand for wireless communication services grows, the amount of these software modifications has also increased.
Unfortunately, wireless network personnel who need to be aware of the software modifications may not be properly notified of the change. This situation is exacerbated when the software is automatically modified by the supplier, because notification across the supplier-network corporate boundary may not be effective—especially when automatically initiated by a computer. Compounding the problem is a lack of information about software modifications even when network personnel are notified.
The lack of effective notice for software modifications may be critical. For example, emergency 911 software may be automatically modified by a supplier system. The software modification could occur without proper notification to network personnel who are responsible for the emergency 911 service. The software modification may cause the mobile switching system to operate differently causing inter-operability issues with other systems. The inter-operability issues could degrade the emergency 911 service, and the degradation of the emergency 911 service could be catastrophic.
The lack of control over software modifications can cause other problems. As stated above, the software modifications to mobile switching systems may cause inter-operability issues with other systems, and these issues can lead to service degradation. Although the software modifications may be a necessary at some point, there are certain scenarios where the corresponding service degradation is not acceptable.
For example, there could be a large event, such as a convention, that will stress particular mobile switching systems for a time period. Service degradation on those systems during that time period should be avoided. After the event, the service degradation resulting from the software modifications could be better tolerated. In another example, a portion of the communication network may be down due to a fault, and service degradation in the remaining portion of the communication network should be avoided. Again, the service degradation resulting from the software modifications could be better tolerated after the fault is fixed and the entire network is operational.